Pretending
by KiaMianara
Summary: Animated, set after "A bridge too close" - Short drabble about Bumblebee after he discovered Wasp wasn't the traitor, that turned into a whole Wasp/Bee story.
1. Prologue

Animated; set after "A bridge too close" – Short drabble about Bumblebee after he discovered Wasp wasn't the traitor expanded into a whole Wasp/Bee

Many thanks to **Dendey** for beta-reading.

**Prologue**

*~*~*~*~*~*

Bumblebee had never been good at pretending to be someone else and never before had he felt the need to do that, but on the other hand he had never been in a similar situation either.

Sure, he had had to deal with the consequences of his acting before, like everybody else had, but how should he deal with _this_? How was he supposed to act like his usual energetic self with that guild weighting down his spark?

Of course no one asked him to, at least not out loud, but when he didn't act like himself the others would notice something was wrong and then they would worry and most importantly they would ask question he would have to answer, but just _couldn't_. He couldn't face noble Prowl or faithful Optimus and tell them he had doomed an innocent mech, an innocent youngling like himself, to the closest fate to the Pits anyone who hadn't served in the Great War was able to imagine.

Ratchet would understand. The old med-bot _had_ after all served in the war, but Bumblebee feared the methods the grumpy old mech would probably try out to 'cheer him up'. He didn't want to listen to what Ratchet had seen and done. He didn't want to have to listen to worse things happening to others. He didn't know what he wanted to hear from him, but it was not that.

Bulkhead would be able to make him feel better. He knew what had happened back then and he had never judged the other youngling for it. He was a real friend, but that was exactly the reason Bumblebee didn't want to talk to him either. He didn't want to bother his best friend with that burden and Sari . . . well, Sari was a human, sort of. She couldn't really understand and had her own problems right now. Actually Bumblebee already felt bad for not really being there for her, so he suppressed his need to talk with someone, anyone, and continued to pretend to be himself.


	2. Chapter 1

To prevent further misunderstandings: the evil plot-bunnies made me do it. I would have been perfectly fine with just leaving it as drabble, but those beast _bite_, and yes, I know Wasp if very OOC, but I don't really care. This story is still set after the episode "a bridge too close"; every following episode doesn't matter here. I force no one to read this, I write this simply to have some fun and to get rid of the plot-bunnies. Still I hope you have fun nonetheless :)

Once again the gratitude for beta-reading goes to **Dendey**.

**Chapter 01**

*~*~*~*~*~*

"I don't think that's a good idea right now, Bumblebee" Optimus Prime said frowning at the yellow mech before him.

"What? Why? You let Prowl go, too. It's because I'm smaller, isn't it? Why does everyone always pick on me because I'm small?"

"It's not because of your height, rather because you are younger and not trained in any ninja-art.  
By the way, who said Prowl went alone?"

The smirk the Prime tried to hide in vain let an image of Jazz giving Prowl strange looks flash before the youngling's inner optic and Bumblebee shuddered.

"Uh, I so didn't need that mental image" he replied disgusted – not because they were talking about Prowl and Jazz doing . . . _things_ in the woods, but because they were talking about Prowl and Jazz. He so didn't want to know _that_ about his elders, especially Prowl. PROWL for crying out loud, the Unmaker of all fun in person. Until today he had actually been convinced the dark ninja-bot was _asexual_.  
He would need an acid bath to get that out of his processors, if ever. But right now he had to focus on his private mission: convincing Optimus into giving him a "solo-mission", as it would be officially entitled, although the yellow speed-bot had called it "vacation".

He just couldn't keep it up any more. Bumblebee's whole body ached from the tension of pretending everything was all right twenty-four seven and to make it worse: no one seemed to notice. They asked a few more times than regular if he was all right, but never questioned his usual 'Of course I'm all right. What should be wrong?' It had been enough "support" for him to keep up the farce for a while, but now the young mech had reached a point where he could only break out of his self inflicted prison or break down and he would prefer not to do the latter around his chosen family.

"Oh come on" he tried for that reason. "We haven't heard anything about the Cons in weeks. I promise I won't search for anything unusual and instantly radio in and come back should something unusual find me.  
Pretty please, boss-bot. I just . . . want some time on my own."

Optimus frowned at the youngster deeply with worry eminent in his features.

"You're sure you are all right? You don't seem to be yourself lately."

Bumblebee had his usual answer almost out of his vocalizer, but then he closed his mouth again. It wouldn't help anyway.

"No. I guess I'm not all right. I . . . sorta have an identity crisis."

If possible the other's frown deepened. He had known something was wrong with the youngest of his team, but hadn't wanted to press the matter and had hoped for Bumblebee to come to him or any of them with his problems, but now it worried him even more. If he had known it was something that at least sounded this dangerous he would have forced the youngster to be honest with him much sooner, but on the other hand he couldn't really know what an 'identity crisis' was supposed to mean, so he settled for asking first.

"An identity crisis" Bumblebee replied. "Human teenagers get that and Sari said that basically Bulkhead and I would be considered teenagers, if we were humans. It's when you don't know who you are any more and what your purpose in life is and such."

" . . . Now I'm really worried. Maybe we should ask Ratchet . . ."

"No! For the love of Primus, not Ratchet. It's nothing dangerous, I swear, and even if it is Ratchet couldn't help. I need to fix that alone.  
Please, Optimus, just one week, so that I can sort things out. I'll radio in every day, just please, let me go."

Still frowning Optimus took in the desperately pleading optics, the tired look, the somehow dull paint and that he had just been called by his designation, not "boss-bot" or "Prime" as usual. He then tried to recall one single accident in the past month that would give reason to suspect Decepticons or any other extraterrestrial being (excluding his own little team of course) were even close to earth, but he couldn't remember anything in that direction.

The blue optics grew larger and more begging was heard. Bumblebee really seemed to need this vacation and since he couldn't find any reason not to the red and blue mech finally gave in.

"You stay within close vicinity of Detroit. I want to know your whereabouts at all times and you'll radio in every afternoon and come back instantly should you notice something unusual – and I mean unusual for earth, not for us.  
I expect you back after seven days, starting tomorrow morning."

Suddenly the older mech found himself tackled to the ground, the yellow youngling clinging to him in what seemed to him like a shadow of his usually energetic self.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" and Bumblebee was gone, leaving Prime with the impression that he definitely had made the right decision, come what may.

"When you plan your destination I wouldn't even think about going south if I were you."

*~*~*~*~*~*

Sighing Bumblebee put up his camp. It wasn't large since technically he was a machine and didn't necessarily need anything to provide food through hunting or anything like that, or keep himself functioning in general. Actually he just needed the energon he had brought along and the sweets – although no human would actually call axel grease "sweets", but for his kind they were. The for a human large, but for him just fitting tent and the camp fire were just for the comfort they offered. As was the large blanket he had hidden greedily from his fellow Autobots, as he had done with the rust-sticks. Sharing was a virtue, all right, and usually he didn't mind it, but as long as they had no way of getting new rust sticks he would protect his small stash like the Allspark itself and as for the blanket . . . well, it was very embarrassing in his book to still have something like that, but he just _couldn't_ separate himself from it similar to humans with their stuff animals in that regard. This way he could just pretend to be "all grown up" and still have the comfort of his sparkling vorns.

Other than that he just had a camping radio and a few book files with him, just in case he got bored, and he was looking forward to telling Prowl that he indeed had voluntarily left behind all the entertainment technologies he usually spent his time with, but at the moment nothing was as it usually was and Prowl and Jazz were the last beings he wanted to think of right now, only beaten by Ratchet and Wreck-Gar. The old med-bot had gone from strange and grumpy to downright terrifyingly high spirited since they found the junk-bot by chance, buried shoulder deep in the ground of Lake Eerie.

Actually he didn't want to think about anyone or anything at all right now. He just wanted to put up his tent, prepare the fire and then "just let it out", as Sari described some of her rather violent outbursts lately. Bumblebee expected to either cry or scream bloody murder the moment he sat down and let it sink in that he didn't need to keep on pretending any more. That he actually did both, scaring off the local wild life in the process, was a bit surprising, but then Bumblebee didn't actually care. It made him feel better and that was all that mattered, wasn't it?

And so he cried and screamed barley keeping himself from destroying something – in this case the local flora - until he was too exhausted to continue. Still hiccuping from time to time he just kept lying where he was.

It felt good, actually, not only the shouting and all that, but also being here, far away from everything. He still preferred the city with its streets and colours and noise and all that life everywhere, but he had to admit he was starting to understand why Prowl loved nature so much – Primus forbid that he ever mentioned that in the ninja-bot's presence. He had colours here, too, so he didn't feel too homesick. Granted, they were mainly brown and green, but the birds weren't and their songs weren't what the humans had running in every store, but he had heard worse sounds and even discovered streets when the first squirrels returned and there were paths in the undergrowth that weren't his making. He wouldn't be able to drive on them, all right, but he didn't felt like driving anyway, more like walking, so he stood up on wobbly legs and just followed one of those "streets", taking care not to go too far from his camp. It bothered him a bit that he couldn't talk with anyone here, but it also had its advantages. The animals didn't care what mood he was in, just if he got too close or became too loud. It gave him a sense of freedom and contentment he hadn't felt for long.

During his musings Bumblebee found a crystal clear little river – he idly wondered how that was possible so close to a big city like Detroit, but Isaac Sumdac knew what he did after all, so he figured that at least it wasn't impossible – sat down close to it and let his processors process whatever crossed them until he noticed the sun sinking behind the trees and went back to call Optimus and the others like he had promised.

*~*~*~*~*

Bumblebee slept well into the next day and came face to face with a deer. The cloven hoofed animal stared at him, long and intensively. The young mech stared back and then the deer turned and slowly walked away, considering the strange being not enough of a threat to hurry, but neither wanting its company.

The yellow bug couldn't hold it against it; his self-esteem was far from restored. If given half the choice he wouldn't have wanted to stay in his own company either.

The sound of an explosion made him jump sky high. Bumblebee was half into defeating any Decepticon that might dare to approach him during his vacation, but then he noticed that no one was actually attacking him. It was just a comet entering the earth's atmosphere and he watched its spectacular impact not even 50 miles away from him. For a moment he mused about what a close call that had been, when Optimus' half panicked voice demanded to know if he was all right over his com link.

"Relax, boss-bot, I'm fine. Just a meteoroid. Nothing fancy."

"_There could be others following."_

"Mother hen" Bumblebee retorted before he could stop himself and snickered when the Prime started to complain about _so_ not being comparable to that domestic bird.

"Oh don't get yourself all worked up over it. I will watch out for evil flying stones.  
Honestly, maybe you should consider taking a vacation, too. Bumblebee out."

Bumblebee smirked knowing that Optimus would now throw a fit about irresponsible younglings that would impress even Ratchet and he would get his meant-to-be-secret high-grade and get blasted with Prime – which actually happened, although they only drank one cube of mild-grade each to celebrate Bumblebee starting to return to his "normal" self, but the young mech never would get to know. Still, from his point of view no matter what they really did the yellow youngling found it very comforting to know someone cared, not that he had doubted it very much before, but it was still good to know.

Stopping in his tracks – he hadn't even noticed he had started to walk – Bumblebee noticed he was heading in the direction of the fallen star. For a moment he considered if he should continue let his curiosity lead the way and investigate, but then he turned around and went back.

This vacation wasn't about some stupid rock. There had been meteors before and there would very likely be meteors again; this was about _him_ and _solely_ him and he was perfectly content for once with just minding his own business.

If only he would have given in to his curiosity, he would have found the crash-landed spaceship and would not have been knocked out in his makeshift camp barley half an hour after his evening talk with Prime.

*~*~*~*~*

Groaning Bumblebee tried to adjust his optics to the absence of light. While his aching processor welcomed the darkness the rest of him was in a state of utter panic within no time. This time he definitely _had_ been attacked and bot-napped and all measures of communication were disabled – probably because he seemed to be somewhere within an old mine or something – but at least he was neither restrained nor harmed in any way, except for the small dent in his helmet and that he didn't have access to his stingers anymore, so it could have been worse, but he couldn't think of that when he spotted the magenta coloured optics gazing at him with such unrestrained hatred that it made him wince as if Megatron himself was standing before him.

It turned out to be much worse, at least from his point of view.

"Wasp make Bumble-bot pay!"

"Wasp?!? Oh nono nonono nono no! Wasp, wait, I can expl . . ."

A fist collided with his faceplates and threw Bumblebee to the ground, a second one followed close behind, leaving the yellow mech almost too dizzy to even try to block the punches, but only almost.

For a moment the urge to fight back arose within him, but he let it drop. Wasp had all rights to be angry at him. This was probably nothing compared to what the other had had to put up with over the last vorns even if only half of the rumours about the stockades were true. When Wasp decided beating the living daylights out of him was the right punishment, then it was perfectly fine with Bumblebee, so he let the other do as he pleased, apologising again and again, even when the green mech stopped.

"This is wrong" Wasp stated.

"What?"

"This is wrong. Bumble-bot is supposed to fight back and then Wasp is going to break Bumble-bot and rip off Bumble-bot's limps and _then_ Bumble-bot is supposed to say Bumble-bot is sorry and then Wasp will have revenge. Bumble-bot is _not_ supposed to be sorry this early." the other replied sounding at least as irritated as Bumblebee felt.

"But I _am_ sorry.  
You were mean towards me although I just tried to become your friend and Longarm was nice and then I overheard this transmission with someone talking to Megatron about a spy amongst the recruits and then I saw you leaving the building and thought you were the spy and then all those 'accidents' happened and somehow you were always close by and Longarm said I should search your stuff for evidence and I found a communication-device of the Decepticons and I thought it was yours, but it wasn't. It was Longarm's. He was the real spy and tricked me into believing you were the spy and I jumped to conclusions and got you into the stockades and I'm sorry, I really am."

Wasp needed a moment to understand the slightly younger mech, seeing that Bumblebee had managed to speak almost as fast as Blurr – left aside that Wasp didn't knew about the Elite Guard speed-bot to begin with – which gave the yellow one the opportunity to take in how much the other had changed. What he remembered of Wasp's chassis to have been yellow and violet was now dark and bright green, while the main part was rather green-blue than blue-green, but even his optics, not blue any more but magenta, didn't seemed to have changed as much as the look they gave. Gone were pride and self-esteem, replaced with a haunted look of growing insanity, his back hunched.

Summed up he could have just as well been a completely different mech and that multiplied the guilt Bumblebee felt by the power of ten at the very least.

"Longarm tricked Bumble-bot?"

"Yes, but no one knew until he blew his cover a few orns ago. There is actually no mech named Longarm. He's Shockwave in a disguise. You heard about Shockwave?"

Wasp nodded, starting to get a much clearer view of what had happened in Autobot boot camp. It would actually make more sense if Longarm really was the infamous Shockwave and if no one had known until recently he couldn't blame the other for not getting him out sooner either, but the vorns in the stockades had taken their toll. He couldn't just sit back and accept the mech he had hated for so long was in the end still as innocent as the day they met.

"Wasp . . . needs to think. Bumble-bot must not leave."

Bumblebee nodded shakily, glad that for now he wouldn't be beaten any more. Just because he felt he deserved the punishment didn't mean he particularly enjoyed it so he just curled up where he was. It wasn't as if there would be any difference if he laid here or somewhere else. Stone was after all stone.

For a moment Wasp stayed where he was, staring at the slightly younger mech confused, before he went into the little space pod he had admittedly stolen back on Cybertron and hidden here after his rather rough landing. He needed to think somewhere he wouldn't always have Bumble-bot in his view, but he found himself permanently gazing outside, watching the yellow mech, until he gave up pretending and went back out again, sitting down across from Bumblebee in what he considered to be an adequate distance, close enough to talk at a comfortable volume but far enough away so as not to be in immediate danger of being attacked and vice versa.

"Bumble-bot tell Wasp whole story, slowly."

Bumblebee nodded, slightly confused about the sudden change in plan, but did as he was told. He tried to stop himself when he noticed he had started to rant, but he couldn't help it. His stress levels were through the figurative roof and it didn't help that he had noticed by now that he would have to call Optimus soon.

He wasn't sure what to tell the boss-bot, but turning Wasp in was definitely no option. If he ever wanted to work things out between them he would have to play with open cards so to speak.

"Wasp? I need to call someone.  
They will worry and come looking for me if I don't and I won't mention you if you don't want me to" he added quickly when the green mech jumped up, obviously believing Bumblebee wanted to call his Elite Guard friends Wasp knew had to be close. Even during times of peace no one was allowed to leave Cybertron alone, especially not this far away.

Weighing out his options Wasp finally agreed under the permission that he would be able to hear the whole conversation, which was just fine with Bumblebee. Staying at the entrance of the cave he fiddled a connection wire from his com-system lose and handed it to Wasp so the other could plug it into -his own com-system. It felt strange to say the least, but they just tried to ignore the awkward feeling and Bumblebee opened a connection to Optimus.

"Heya, boss-bot, how is it going?"

"_Sentinel is here"_ the other dead panned, frustration evident in his voice.

"Oh slag."

"_That about sums it up and I just can't get rid of him.  
Are you alright? Your signal is __so __decidedly__."_

"I'm fine, boss-bot. That has to be the cave."

"_Cave?"_

"Yeah. Some er stuff in the walls must be interfering with the signal and it looks like it's about to rain so I guess I'll stay here for a while, don't worry.  
And why don't you just give Sentinel the boot? That's our base, not his."

"_And get him started about how he is part of the Elite Guard and we __are__ only a spacebridge maintenance crew?"_

Bumblebee could practically see the Prime shake his head before changing the subject.

"_How do you feel?"_

"Er . . . I wouldn't call it fine yet, but I guess I'm getting better.  
Hey, how about you tell Sentinel how muddy everything has been after Sari and I played in the rain last time? Bet he'll hightail it out faster than Blurr."

" _. . . That could actually work, I'll try that.  
Don't forget to com me tomorrow."_

"Of course not. Bumblebee out."

He cut the connection and rolled the cord back up after Wasp had disconnected the hard link.

"Spacebridge maintenance?"

The yellow bot winced.

"Er, yeah, that's what we do. . . well, _did_, until we stumbled upon the Allspark and Megatron."

Surprised Wasp looked the other over and found indeed not a single Elite-Guard symbol. He had assumed Bumble-bot would use the discovery of a spy – even if it only afterwards became clear it was the wrong one – as a springboard. He would have surely done it, but that would mean he hadn't even drawn any _benefits_ from the whole thing.

Bumblebee shrugged helplessly and Wasp started to wonder how in the name of Primus he was supposed to stay angry at him?

Not at all apparently.

Deities and their sick sense of humour.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 2

Okay, I know it's been a long while and I'm really sorry. I have the MOTHER of all writers blocks and that for about a half year already. Heck, I don't even know what to write here ... well, except maybe: sorr, that this story is growing more and more ridiculous by the moment. Should have just left the prologue as a drabble, but well, now it's too late and maybe someone finds some amusement in this.

By the way, my beta is currently very busy in real life. She hadn't had time yet to check my spelling and gramma, so please be so kind and **don't** tell me I need to improve my language. I know it's not very good.

And now enjoy the chapter ^^

***~*~*~*~*~***

" . . . and so we learned about Longarm being Shockwave, or the other way round, or . . . well, you get the idea."

Wasp indeed "got the idea", several to be exactly, starting with the one that Bumblebee actually wasn't as much of a bumbler as they thought. He was still a bit clumsy and most definitely talked a lot when nervous, but he did it without away sensitive information, like the number of Autobots currently on this planet, earth, or the location of their base, but other than that Wasp pretty much knew everything about Bumblebee's life by now and he had to admit that, although not an Elite Guard life, it was a good life, even before they found the Allspark.

He had a good job, even if he couldn't see the importance of it, and caring friends – not exactly the top of the society, but still good friends. Admittedly it wasn't _the_ life, but still a life; more at least than he had in the stockades.

"Hey, I could introduce you to them, if you like. They are really nice . . . well, more difficult than not, but still nice."

"Wasp doesn't think that's a good idea."

"Not? Why? I told them you're innocent. I mean, they'll be a bit suspicious and . . . oh, Sentinel. Yeah, that _could_ be a problem, but he doesn't have much to say here and Ultra Magnus isn't so bad either. I mean, he is the Big Kahuna and all, but . . . "

"Don't you ever stop talking?"

Bumblebee pouted, reminding the slightly older mech that he had actually been the one wanting to hear the story. The yellow bug had obviously forgotten he was supposed to be a prisoner, but Wasp had given up trying to control the situation anyway and as long as long as it stayed like this he saw no reason to re-establish it.

"How long till they come search for Bumble-bot?"

No answer. The younger was sulking in silence and Wasp couldn't withstand the temptation to tease him any longer.

"Sparkling."

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am not."

"Am too infinitive."

"Who is the sparkling now?"

For a moment or two Wasp said nothing, then suddenly fell over laughing. Bumblebee's shocked expression wasn't helping him to snap out of it either.

"Hey, you alright?"

"Fine, fine. You are just too much" the green mech tried to say, but only managed to get out half the words in the attempt to keep his systems from overheating.

"Yeah, right, it's always my fault isn't it?" the other snapped and just stomped away, giving his sudden mood swing no heed. There was after all only so much a mech could take and if the universe couldn't deal with his lines being drawn a whole lot lower than usually then it could just as well go and . . . and _implode_ for all he cared.

"Bumble-bot not allowed to leave."

"Oh yeah? See if I care.

You just can't be nice only once, can you? I mean, what do I have to do so you take me serious? I try to be friendly, I try to help and all I get is being told off and laughed at. I could have just as well stayed in boot camp; there I could at least _pretend_ I would one day prove my worth, but no, I couldn't just be selfish and had to help Bulkhead and end up on this stupid planet.

This whole _universe_ must be out to get me."

At this point Wasp wasn't too sure Bumblebee was still addressing him, so he just followed the other through the forest and back to his little camp.

"Why are you following me?"

"You are my hostage."

"Oh great! First I'm the bumbling one, then I'm the small one and now I'm a hostage. Can this life get any worse?"

"You could end up in the stockades."

"And I guess that's supposed to make me . . ."

Bumblebee froze. Of course, no matter how annoying his life was, it always better than that, and it was his fault Wasp knew that. Imagining what the other must have been through even if only half the rumours were true made him feel sick and terrible ashamed of himself.

"I'm sorry, Wasp, I . . . sorry."

"It . . . could have been worse I guess. At least I survived with half my sanity still intact."

"Yeah, that . . . hey, you're talking normal, not this 'Wasp this' and 'Wasp that' stuff."

"I . . . yes" the green mech replied a bit grumpy. "In the stockades they only called us numbers; I had to remain sane somehow."

"That . . ."

"Didn't work, I know, but at least I remember some names. Met one who couldn't remember anything; didn't want to end like that."

A shadow ran over Wasp face. Bumblebee only saw it in the corner of his optics, but for the first time he started to get a gasp on the change the other had gone through. This wasn't the Wasp back from boot-camp anymore, would never be that mech again, and it frightened the yellow speed-bot, even if he hadn't liked all aspects of the other's character.

How close had he just come to triggering another violent outburst of Wasp?

"Actually I wanted to say I'm an aft head or something like that, but that is good, isn't it? I mean, when you talk normal you're getting better, right?"

"I . . . guess."

"Oh . . . okay, good to know."

The heavy silent started to threaten Bumblebee's own sanity. There had to be _something_ he could do that wouldn't make things worse and that was when he got an idea.

"Rust-sticks?"

"Rust-sticks???"

"Rust-sticks" the yellow mech confirmed smug and was suddenly pushed into the direction he had been heading before, a one word singsong constantly following him.

Smiling to himself he took lead.

Some things didn't change, like, never, and rust-sticks were the best cure for about everything in his opinion and if the delighted expression on Wasp's faceplates when he saw the promised goodies was anything to go by the other agreed with him. He definitely would have to bribe Ratchet into finding out how to make them, or Jazz. Yes, Jazz was a better source. The ninja-bot wasn't yet immune to the kicked-cyber-puppy-optics, although he himself was a master of this art. It was driving Sentinel nuts, as did the high art of talking-while-eating Bumblebee was now using to ask Wasp if they should move his stuff to the space-pod, of Wasp belongings here.

The green mech, sitting quite happily across from him, replied muffled that he would prefer the cave, although he admitted to be surprised about the question. Bumblebee had never really acted like a prisoner and since he had heard the magical word the need to at least try had erased itself.

"Saves us always going from one place to the other."

*~*~*~*~*

Having set the parameters of their companionship the rest of the week went by much calmer and both used the time to learn things about each other. Wasp learned a lot about earth and was intrigued by some of the games the other mech described, but what actually surprised him the most was to learn that Bumblebee wasn't half as clumsy as he had thought as long as he wasn't nervous or startled and the yellow one made the worrisome discovery that Wasp refrained from recharging as much as he could.

Now the bug surely was no pool of wisdom, neither was he Ratchet or Blurr – he couldn't talk for hours without running out of topics – and he couldn't talk a bot into near deactivation without running out of topics, but he _could_ talk Wasp into recharge when he had to, through today that wasn't his aim.

"I'll need to return to the others tomorrow."

"Then Bumble-bot has to leave Wasp."

"Actually I though you could, you know, come with me?" Bumblebee asked hopefully. He looked forward to showing the green one some of his games, to have someone equal to play with. Of course, most time he could bribe one of the others into entertaining him, but it just wasn't the same.

Wasp hesitated. It didn't sound too bad to actually be able to rest, maybe even recharge on something other than the hard ground and get maybe a medical check-up – while not very fond of medics, because of some ugly incidents in the nearer past, he trusted Bumblebee's word that this Ratchet character may be grumpy and a bit rough, but otherwise harmless – but he worried they'd still put him back in the stockades.

"Nah, I don't think they'll do that. Sentinel, maybe, but he doesn't have anything to say here anyway."

"But Bumble-bot not sure."

The yellow youngling tried to resolve the other's doubts, but finally had to admit that he really wasn't sure how his team mates would react. While they surely wouldn't just but him back in the stockades they would probably lock him up and that was just not fair.

"And what are we going to do then?"

"Bumble-bot go, Wasp stay."

"Yeah, as if I would leave you behind alone."

"Wasp can take care of himself" the green youngling protested, but only made Bumblebee laugh.

"You can't tell me you honestly believe you could take on the D-Cons if find you and where do you plan to get energon from?

And I thought I was the naïve one here."

"Wasp not wants to go there."

"Well, then I'll have to come back" Bumblebee concluded in a tune that with a little practice would leave no room for arguments. In any case it shut Wasp up for a moment.

"Come again?"

"You hear right. If you won't come with me I'll have to come here when ever I can and make sure you don't get yourself in trouble."

"I can take care of myself" the other insisted again, but met a wall of stubbornness.

"It's not as if you could stop me. Now if you'd excuse me, I need to pack."

It was actually a lie, packing meant for him to just put everything in a bag and that it, but Bumblebee really didn't want to argue on that matter any further and if he hadn't imagined the silent "thank you" Wasp would in a few minutes drop the matter on his own and they could go one with whatever they could to on his last free day.


	4. Chapter 3

Bad news, guys, this is as far as I've written the story so far and my writers block isn't any better than befor, not to mention that recently I've been driving in and out of a cold lately.

I'm not really happy with this. I'm somehow unable to properly bring across how bad Wasp's condition actually is and how confused everyone else about his sudden appearance, but I can't help it.

***~*~*~*~*~***

At least, Bumblebee mused, he wouldn't have to worry about how to break it to his team mates (and the Elite Guard) that Wasp was already on earth. The green mech had after three days decided that it was too boring out in the woods and had tried to sneak into Bumblebee's room unnoticed ... only that he had accidently walked in on Prowl and Jazz making out. Needless to say his undignified scream had alerted the whole base and brought Bumblebee in a very uncomfortable position: namely between Wasp and his teammates.

So _this_ was what Ultra Magnus meant with "sometimes the right thing and the hardest are the same". He really wished he would have learned that some other way than starring down the various weapons of his team mates. Well, actually they aimed at Wasp standing frozen up behind him, but that wasn't making any difference right now.

"Er, Bee? Wrong direction" Sari pointed out from behind Ratchet's leg, worry evident in her voice.

"No, I think I'm doing the right thing" the yellow bot replied, sounding stronger than he felt. It always looked so easy in the movies, to stand up for the right thing, but he wanted to see the one facing his friends like this in real life and _not_ feeling ill.

"Shockwave is the traitor, not Wasp, remember? We don't have a reason to attack him."

"Lil' B gotta point there. No reason ta lose our cool."

The mysterious ways of Jazz' processor would always remain mysterious to Bumblebee, but he wasn't above using a chance to escape when presented so nicely. Too bad Ratchet noticed his attempt do guide Wasp out of the crowded room while everyone starred surprised at the ninja-bot.

"You wouldn't even 'lose your cool' in the desert and you'll stay right there, youngling. You got some explaining to do."

Great, exactly what the yellow bot hadn't wanted to do right now, but surprisingly he got the most unusual help, second only to Megatron.

"That will have to wait. Sentinel is on his way. Jazz ... " Prime probably wanted to say something along the line "you should make yourself invisible", but the ninja-bot had already beaten him to that, so the fire-truck just moved on, entering his "fearless leader mode", as Sari called it.

"Bumblebee, take care that Sentinel doesn't see him and don't you dare wandering off! Bulkhead, you will go with them. The rest of us will just act unsuspicious. I'll talk with Sentinel" he ordered, making a face as if he had just drunken stale oil.

"We'll be in my room, boss-bot" the yellow youngling replied fast, grabbed Wasp and pulled him in his domicile, sighing in relieve when they were finally alone.

"Sorry."

"For what? We would have needed to tell them sooner or later anyway. Could have gone better, but what happened happened" Bumblebee tried to calm his distressed friend, not really successful and then suggested he could just get them some energon. Wasp wasn't very happy with staying behind alone, but agreed nonetheless. He was kinda running low.

The yellow youngling nodded, turned and ran right into Bulkhead.

"Can we talk?"

"Er, sure. What is the matter?" he asked with an apologetic smile to Wasp, not resisting when he was pulled out on the corridor. It wasn't as if it would have changed a thing. Bulkhead was after all twice his size and at least three times stronger than Bumblebee could ever hope to be.

"I don't like having him here."

"Wasp? Why? He isn't the traitor, how often do I have to say that until someone listens?"

"I know, but he still was really mean in boot-camp."

"So was I and yet you still gave me a second chance."

Bulkhead had to admit that was true. It felt different, because Bumblebee had also been threatened rather badly, but confronted with it like that he had to say that the other really hadn't been very nice to him at first either.

"He has changed, very much actually. Just ... give him a chance, okay? He's really nice if you get to know him."

"Well, guess I can give it a try" the large mech replied and went into Bumblebee's room. Glazing back the yellow mech sneaked to the kitchen to fetch three cubes, but he couldn't stop himself from eavesdropping on Optimus' and Sentinel's argument, although he wouldn't have called it that, since the supposed-to-be adult mechs were actually having a shouting mech.

"For the hundreds time, Sentinel, everything is alright."

"Stop lying. I didn't imagine that scream."

"Even if someone would have screamed, how should you ... oh, you didn't! You bugged this place?! Congratulations, Sentinel, I thought even you couldn't stop that low."

"Don't you go blaming me for that. How else were we supposed to notice if you managed to frag up again? Now tell me who screamed and why, that's an order!"

"As if I ..."

"Cool it, will ya?"

Sentinel actual jumped when Jazz suddenly appeared behind him, grinning from one audio to the other.

"If he's gonna say what I think he will we should inform Ratchet."

Bumblebee glazed down at Sari irritated then concentrated back on the discussing mechs.

"Ye gonna turn this place into a war zone every time I make Prowler scream now?"

With a crunching sound one of Prowl's shurikens collided with de mainly white cyber-ninja's head, not deep enough to cause anything but superficial damage, but it still had to hurt. With a low whine Jazz went after his partner, instantly trying to convince the gold-black mech that he had absolutely not known about the bugs – he didn't have a full gasp of the "sleeping on the couch" thing yet, but he _did_ understand that it would mean he would have to recharge alone for a long while.

Sentinel looked as if he was about to throw up.

"I so didn't need to know that."

"Neither did I" the yellow mechling agreed, ducking when everyone suddenly stared at him.

"And what are you going to do with that energon?"

"Er ..."

"We were going to have a little picnic outside" Sari interrupted fast. "You know, back to nature, play in the mud, get really really _really_ dirty with all kind of organic stuff and such."

Now Sentinel looked really ill and left, muttering something about disgusting organics and how much he hated this planet.

"I think you really should go for a while. We need to de-bug this place."

"And we can't help, because ..."

"You have other responsibilities now?" Optimus filled in frowning, then watched amused how the youngling speed away, Sari on his heels. They were most definitely heading straight for a disaster right now, but if of Sentinel or Wasp he couldn't really tell. He surely wasn't the best when it came to judging people, but to him it seemed as if the green youngling wasn't in any condition to cause any trouble right now. He couldn't remember ever seeing someone so terrified, even considering the situation.

Poor kid. Maybe he could ask Ultra Magnus about the conditions in the stockades. From what he had seen and heard about how Wasp has been and was now ... whatever was going on there had to be worse than unnecessarily cruel, but first he would have to find an excuse to ask him that, aside from Wasp and his obviously unstable condition.

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

Yes, I did it, I managed to write the next chapter, which is, I might add, the last chapter. You will get an epilogue ... sometime ^^;

Yeah, I know, I'm slow, but you have to deal with it. My life isn't all sunshine and roses and I have ALWAYS a lot on my mind that doesn't always have to do with Transformers.

Anyway, is it obviously that I wanted to just get this over with?

**Chapter 04**

***~*~*~*~*~***

It took a while to get used to the new situation for all parties involved. Bumblebee, Optimus Prime had to admit, was acting far more mature than he would have given him credit for. He would have expected the youngling to lose patience fast and force the other to interact with everyone, but he didn't. Instead he stuck to Wasp and while he encouraged all attempts of socialisation – mainly with Bulkhead and Sari – he wasn't above kicking them out when it became too much for his green companion. In fact, he wasn't above anything when it concerned Wasp and he had proven that rather spectacularly just about half an hour ago by telling Ratchet exactly where he could put his bedside behaviour, no matter how necessary the medical check up was. The old medic was still shocked into silence and the last time Optimus had checked Bumblebee still sat in front of his closet and tried to coax Wasp out again. Primus only knew why the green youngling had practically moved into Bumblebee's cupboard. That he didn't want to recharge alone was one thing, but this ...

"Are you sure this is Bumblebee and not some imposter?"

"Prowl!"

"He just talked back to Ratchet with justified reasons and survived unscratched. I believe doubts are justified."

"Aren't you still avoiding Jazz" Optimus argued back when spotting the black and white Elite Guard mech, not wanting to admit that he had thought the same.

"He really didn't know about the bugs and given the circumstances I see no reason to continue that."

The fire truck could only just so swallow a comment about love sick, young bots. That was an argument he couldn't win and rather did not have with Wreckgar marching by on his never ending mission to annoy Ratchet, at least when one bothered to ask the medic.

"Sentinel was right. This is more often an insane asylum than not."

"Just don't let him hear that, OP. He got enough air in his head; more and his chin will explode. Ye coming, Prowler?"

The ninja-bots left for patrol, leaving Optimus to wonder if he was the ward or actually just another patient. He watched Bumblebee look after Wreckgar and then get Wasp and dragged him to the med bay, obviously successfully explaining the other that with the junk-bot around Ratchet was as harmless as a butterfly.

Both, he finally decided and went to meet Bulkhead at the entrance for their own patrol.

*~*~*~*~*

Considering the circumstances they didn't need long for Wasp to integrate himself into the strange family unit the Autobots hat formed. He mainly stuck to Bumblebee, but notably calmed down around the others and after a while didn't even let Ratchet's mood swings get to him.

Sentinel was another matter all together, but nobody could really blame the kid and at least Bumblebee didn't try to give the other Prime the same talk he had given Ratchet. It was a game of pretending that everything was okay and as soon as Sentinel or someone else was near pretending Wasp didn't even existed. To make up for it Bumblebee had started to take the other for rides around the city. Some would call it patrols, others some form of a chase. Just now the yellow one was dragging his friend out again, both laughing and holding hands.

Optimus gave a puzzled look to Ratchet, who just shrugged it off and gave Prowl a knowing smirk, who in turn dared his fellow cyber-ninja to interfere.

"Aw, chill, Prowler. They are young, they'll figure it out on their own. You on the other hand could use some help."

Prowl, for the lack of a better word puffed up and stalked away, the click-click-clicking of his heel-like food-structures haunting the music loving mech already in his nightmares.

"Was that really worth it?"

"You bet ... as soon as he calmed down that is. Prowler, baby, wait. I didn't mean it like that."

Ratchet and Optimus shared equal looks of annoyance until suddenly the old medic had a certain junk-bot attached to his side.

"I am Wreckgar and I ... don't even think about finishing that sentence in public?"

Ratchet glared for a moment longer, than gave up and sighed. For some reason the youngster had taken more than just a likening to him and wouldn't give it up, so he just patted Wreckgar and grumbled something that strangely enough sounded like "Love you, too, kid", before half carrying, half dragging his much younger appendage off to some privacy and that was when Optimus decided "to the Pit with it" and asked Sari to teach him how to play with those controls that had her and Bumblebee starring at the screen for so long. Even if Sentinel now came by it couldn't get much worse, or so he at least thought until Prowl came rushing back with a pretty beat up Bumblebee.

The yellow bug was so out of it he hardly could get out anything, except some words, or rather names, that indicated the worst, left aside that Wasp's absence told them already enough. Everything else was about Sentinel's involvement and Bumblebee's self-loathing because he had been unable to protect his friend, as he felt was the least he could do after causing Wasp so much trouble and that what when Optimus Prime had finally enough.

Now, the fire truck would be the first to admit that he wasn't exactly, well, the Prime example of a Prime, and that he rather avoided confrontations if possible, but there were moments for peaceful solutions and there were times to storm the proverbial castle that in this case was a space ship and demand one's right and attacking on out of his team and bot-napping another was definitely indicating the need for some serious aft-kicking ... well at least in his imagination. Seriously, this was Ultra Magnus they were talking about. He couldn't just waltz in and demand Wasp to be set free, but that didn't mean he wouldn't rescue the green youngling.

Ratchet needed an hour to get Bumblebee back on his pedes and Optimus wasn't the only one feeling bad about every single minute. Wasp hadn't told much from the stockades, but that he had to be traumatised was obviously and the moment Bumblebee was up and about again the whole team headed for the ship of the Elite Guard, although at this point even Jazz had to say that nothing about them was "elite" or "guard" anymore, although before he had always been proud, Sentinel or not.

When they arrived Bumblebee was ready to follow Prime's first thought and storm the place – he could still hear Wasp's terrified screams echoing through his processor and it made his spark clench painfully – but the music loving mech held him back, motioning the other to go ahead, before he pulled out a seemingly harmless card and gave it to the irritated bug.

"Lowest level. Don't do anything I wouldn't, okay?"

"But ... won't you get in trouble?"

"Nah, the big bot isn't as stiff as he looks. Worst he could do is kicking me out and the best place for a failed Elite Guard officer is a space bridge maintenance crew, right? Now get going. Ye shouldn't let your little lover wait."

Bumblebee actually blushed, but instead of going into a triad about being just friends he said his thanks and ran into the ship, while Jazz closed up to the rest of the group, answering questions about what happened with one of his mystifying grins.

In the meantime Bumblebee clunk to Jazz' identity card for dear life and worked his way down to the holding cells, trying to the best of his abilities to be not spotted. Granted, that was more Prow's fort – he would so sit through some of his lessons once this was over – but since he had ran into no one and the alarm wasn't sounded by the time he reached the holding cells the yellow mech figured he had done a considerable decent job.

Finding no one on the corridor he looked into every cell, and almost panicked when he found them all deserted.

"Wasp?!"

A movement to his right caught his attention. Bumblebee again called the name of his friend and saw violet optics blink on and off under the berth.

To say Bumblebee was relieved would have been an understatement, at least until it became clear that the other wouldn't come out of his hiding place, no matter how often the yellow one called his name.

"Come on, it's just me, Bumblebee."

"Bumble-bot?"

"Yes, Bumble-bot. Wait, I'll come in."

Jazz' card fell to the floor twice before the yellow mech finally managed to pull it though the device to open the bars. He couldn't wait for the bars to finally slip away.

"Hey, are you okay?" Bumblebee asked, laying down in front of the berth were Wasp was hiding under.

"Bumble-bot come for Wasp?"

"Well, of course I did. I'm sorry I couldn't stop that jerk Sentinel. I feel stupid, I should have been more careful, I'm sorry."

He hardly had said that when the other had already darted out and hugged him.

"Bumble-bot came for Wasp!" the green mech sobbed, leaving Bumblebee shocked beyond words. He had thought Wasp would be angry that he was such a weakling, but he wasn't. He wasn't even upset that it had taken him so long, but simply glad that somebody had actually really bothered to come for him at all.

Well, damn it all, Bumblebee wouldn't have thought that that was an issue, too. In the end he now would have to thank Sentinel for bringing it up ... or not.

The bars fell shut again and Sentinel showed his ugly face, mocking both of them. Having to admit that it had been really stupid to leave Jazz' identity card outside the cell, not to mention expect nobody to be on monitor duty Bumblebee just glared and pulled Wasp closer and out of sight.

"Ignore him. Boss-bot is already talking with Ultra Magnus and I still have my stingers. We won't be in here for long."

Wasp nodded and tried to follow the advice, while Bumblebee kept on staring at a point next to Sentinel. Prowl would be impressed to hear about his sudden patience and he would be sure to tell him, but Sentinel really couldn't leave soon enough.

Maybe he should provoke him into opening the cell and then escape, but chances were higher the Prime would catch and beat them and this was already hard enough on Wasp as it was. If only he could be sure Optimus would succeed. Well, of course he would, they were innocent after all, but then Bumblebee realised that Wasp had probably spend _years_ telling himself just that and that was a disheartening thought.

"Wasp don't want to go back there."

"Don't worry. I told you, boss-bot is gonna talk Ultra Magnus into letting us go and even if he fails we got still the other. Prowl got his name for a reason, I bet he is good at pick pocketing and certainly better at sneaking around than I or Bulkhead will just break down the walls or ... or Ratchet will threat everyone with virus shots. We just gotta wait, that's all."

*~*~*~*

Waiting was one thing, waiting for an impatient bot like Bumblebee was torture, especially since he was worried about Wasp. Granted, he was doing considerably fine, but this couldn't be healthy for a traumatised mech.

Good thing Ultra Magnus saw it his way, or rather Optimus' way. He came down personally to release them and even apologised for about everything. Now everyone else would have blown a fuss over that and the only two things keeping Ratchet silent were that it was Ultra Magnus they were talking about and that the younglings were just glad to be free again.

"Just please make sure that never happens again, sir" Bumblebee couldn't help but add while pushing Wasp behind Bulkhead. Sentinel looked really pissed off and he rather didn't take any chances. That the "Jerk-bot" was actually fuming about Optimus giving him the beating of his life and getting away with the explanation of short termed unsoundness of mind, but he would hear about that later.

"You have my word" the old – it would have been legitimate to call him ancient – said and then let his optics wander about this strange team, how each in their own way made sure they all were okay, except that one of them officially wasn't part of them.

"Jazz, is it right that this one got hold of your identity card?"

"No, I gave it to him" the black and white replied before Bumblebee could say anything else, his smile never faltering.

"And why, my I ask, did you do that?"

"Well, couldn't see the two love birds get separated."

"Hey" the yellow mech complained, swapping the servo patting him away. Primus, he hated it when they were threatening him like a sparkling.

"I see" was all Magnus said to that, seeing that the youngest weren't the only lovebirds that didn't want to be separated. He may be old and to a great extent tired of many things, but he wasn't blind nor had he forgotten what it was like to be young.

"We will leave for Cybertron soon, Optimus. I want your team to stay here and collect the missing Allspark-fragments. Jazz will also stay and aid you in that task."

That announcement was met with cheers. Prowl even forgot to restrain his emotions and gloomed his lover, which certainly would have made Bumblebee's day if he wouldn't have been busy tending to his own future lover, even if that was still a long time to come. Left aside that they were just so out of the age to believe relationships of that kind disgusting in general right now all they wanted was to go back to their own base and recharge. Who knew sitting around and doing nothing but worry and hold onto each other could be this exhausting.

Taking a last glaze around Ultra Magnus gave Sentinel a warning glare and then motioned Optimus to join him for a walk. They had much to discus about the responsibilities and qualities of a good leader. Even if nothing else this unplanned visit to this strange organic planet and especially this encounter had shown him how much he had let his own duties slide and that not only recently. Optimus, he was sure, would grow to be a great and respected leader, if given the proper time and chance to learn and prove himself, but that didn't mean he would just sit back and wait for the other's time to come, not any longer at least. There was much to do and after so long he valued an honest and idealistic opinion. Too bad actually he couldn't take them all back to Cybertron, but Optimus needed to finish this and he had time. No as much as he used the last time Ultra Magnus had felt this young and energetic, but still enough.

**TBC**


	6. Epilogue

Okay, so much for taking long.

I know, It's short and corny and all, but hey, considering I lost interest about halfway through chapter 2 I think it's good.

**Epilogue**

***~*~*~*~*~***

Returning to Cybertron left the whole team with a strange feeling in their tanks. True, it was good to finally come home, but a lot had happened in both worlds that made them feel out of place, no matter where they went. It had been especially hart for Sari. After finding out she was a hybrid she had never been able to return to being human again and after her "father's" dead – he died of age, since restoring the Allspark and fighting the Decepticons off had actually taken that long – she hadn't found a reason to stay on earth any longer.

The Autobots had been celebrated and partly even worshiped as heroes, but the tolerance of humans had their boundaries. Accepting their existence had been one thing, that as a different race they had also a slightly different understanding of certain things had also been understandable, but when it came to gender related ... it wasn't so much that out of eight six were obviously "gay", but that gender was only just so a matter of appearance not reproduction was stressing it too far. There had been no violence or notable insults, but a gap between the humans and them that no amount of good will could bridge and no matter how much he loved earth Prowl wanted to have his and Jazz' sparkling rather on Cybertron.

The sparklet and Sari were also the main reasons why their return wasn't the celebration of the century – with the Allspark restored and the Decepticons somewhere in the deeps of the universe licking their wounds – but just a small maintenance ship docking on at an old repair bay in Iacon, with only Sentinel awaiting them. No crowd, no cheers, no lights, no music, but neither sneers or other remarks, just a considerable friendly welcome.

That was even better than expected.

"Follow me. I'll bring you to Ultra Magnus."

"Since when so subdued?"

"I rather not talk about it" the other replied and that was all he ever said on that matter with the exception of Optimus. After the rather long meeting with Ultra Magnus he would take the other Prime aside and apologies and then he would start and try to rebuild the friendship they once had, not knowing how much more would become of it.

More than expected was also what Optimus got. That Magnus would actually go through with making him his successor came as much as a surprise to him as the actual appointment. Yet, that he made a fair and with the years also wise leader didn't surprise anyone but himself.

Jazz and Prowl reopened their late master's dojo. It wasn't easy with Prowl expecting and the building in ruins, but Bumblebee and Wasp gladly helped out and so did Sari and Bulkhead, all four unsure of what they should do now. With no fragments to collect and protect and no Decepticons to fight it seemed like the best idea to stick together, but die ninja-bots made it clear that the easy way out was not an option, so they ended up travelling Cybertron.

It ended with Bulkhead returning to Iacon and settling down as a professional artist, after much encouragement of Sari. Ratchet, after paying some old friends a visit, took up teaching young wanna-be-medics, who didn't have much to laugh, but while his bedside manners had never become better the students had to admit he really knew what he was doing and so they put up with it and after a short demonstration of how fast the old medic could actually take someone apart and put them back together again nobody dared to say anything against Wreckgar being student and in a relationship with their teacher. It had nothing to do with each other after all and a wrench to the head was not a pleasant experience either.

With no better idea Sari started helping out one of Ratchet's friends, an engineer named Wheeljack, and became quite successful in that field. Rumour was she and Bulkhead bonded, but details about that never left their little circle.

That Bumblebee and Wasp came back from their travels as a bonded pair was a well known fact and everything but unexpected. Ever since Bumblebee's solo-mission/vacation they had been inseparable after all, but their renewed determined to join the Elite Guard was a surprise. Their reasons were pretty simple: they could stay together, protect Cypertron and support Optimus once they had reached the higher ranks, which they indeed managed.

It wasn't always easy, life never was, but with the stockades gone even Wasp didn't need to pretend to be happy.

**END**


End file.
